


strings of fate (please stop pulling at me)

by flawqueen



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Acceptance, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Study, Dead Bianca di Angelo, Family, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Hazel Levesque is a Good Sibling, Hurt/Comfort, Insecurity, Jason Grace is a Good Friend, M/M, Nico di Angelo-centric, Pining, Reyna is a good friend, Romance, Self-Acceptance, Soft Nico di Angelo, Soulmarks, by the end this is just rlly rlly rlly wholesome, pure friendships make me so soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 11:21:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22969165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawqueen/pseuds/flawqueen
Summary: Nico di Angelo is six years old when his older sister, Bianca, who is on the brink of turning nine, points out his first tattoo. The tattoo that he shared with her. It wasn’t much: just a collection of simple, golden dots that, according to Bianca, apparently resembled the Orion constellation.
Relationships: Bianca di Angelo & Nico di Angelo, Nico di Angelo & Hades, Nico di Angelo & Hazel Levesque, Nico di Angelo & Jason Grace, Nico di Angelo & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 13
Kudos: 335





	strings of fate (please stop pulling at me)

**Author's Note:**

> again, an older piece, but this one i actually rlly like the idea of. maybe i can touch base on it again some day, idk
> 
> hope u enjoy! :)

Most people have multiple soulmates, Nico knows. Some for family, some for friends, and some for lovers. And judging by his tattoos, Nico has six. How stupid is that?

Nico di Angelo is six years old when his older sister, Bianca, who is on the brink of turning nine, points out his first tattoo. The tattoo that he shared with her. It wasn’t much: just a collection of simple, golden dots that, according to Bianca, apparently resembled the Orion constellation.

It sits neatly at the bottom of his left calf, matching the one on Bianca’s shoulder. And he’s so happy because it was permanent proof that he was connected to the person he loved the most.

He’s aware that he has other marks. There’s three more, and Nico’s excited, to say the least. There’s a skateboard on his palm, dirty red with white wheels, and a shining, silver dagger on his forearm. There’s also a thin, black outline of the state of California on his collarbone, but most of it gets covered when he wears a T-shirt, so he’s a little disappointed.

Still, he likes his constellation mark the best.

Until three years pass by, and he and his family – his mom, his dad, and his sister – are driving to a fancy restaurant to celebrate Bianca’s first day in middle school. There’s a green light, so Hades resumes driving, but then a car comes blazing from the wrong side, and Nico’s vision is red. There’s blood in every corner, and Nico’s screaming, because his mom is unconscious and Bianca is breathing sharply next to him, and he thinks they might be dying.

And turns out they are. A few hours later – or a few minutes, he doesn’t know – an ambulance comes, but they are too late. Nico feels Bianca stop breathing beneath his hands, and his father sobs as he closes his wife’s eyes for her.

Even after Bianca is pronounced dead, Nico sits in the hospital, staring at nothing and everything at once. Because even at the young age of nine, Nico knows that there is no coming back from death.

The beautiful constellation on his leg fades off quickly. In a matter of days, the scintillating golden color morphs into a dull gray, blurring at the edges, and Nico cries himself to sleep every night for longer than he wants to admit.

But three weeks later he dries his tears because he can’t stand the judgment that he was too weak to deal with this, because his pride doesn’t allow the dread overwhelming his heart and his body and his soul.

And then another few years pass by in a blur, and he’s in his last year of middle school now. And while all of his classmates are elated by that fact, Nico isn’t, because it just reminds him of all the time he could’ve spent with Bianca.

His father isn’t the same either. Hades still works in his rich business, still heads out every morning at seven, and still eats three meals a day, but he is not the same. His eyes are mournful, all the time, and his stance droops. His shoulders no longer carry the pride that he used to be full of. Other than a single nod acknowledging his existence every once in a while, he doesn’t say a word to Nico. He doesn’t even go near alcohol, and he never lays a hand on cigarettes or drugs, but Nico knows that those aren’t the only ways to grieve.

And it’s only a few months later when Nico looks at the calendar, gazing at the marked day that resembled his birthday. He wishes Bianca was here. God, he wishes his mother was here. He just wants them _here_ , for his fourteenth birthday, celebrating the day he was born. He misses his father, too. He yearns for anything from Hades, anything. A hand on his shoulder before school, a sincere smile before bed, a single “happy birthday” before midnight. Anything.

(He knows it won’t come. Not anytime soon. Still, it feels good to imagine.)

But then, that same day, the doorbell rings early in the morning and Nico opens it, thinking that it was his cousin Percy, but instead, there’s a girl, biting her lip and inhaling slowly. She’s pretty, Nico notices disinterestedly, with chocolate skin and frizzy cinnamon hair, but she doesn’t look familiar.

She tells him that her name is Hazel Levesque, and her mother had just passed away. Nico’s sympathetic, but he’s listening to her quietly, his hand still on the doorknob when his father comes downstairs to the front door and brings her in after one look.

Nico’s shocked when he learns that she’s his sister. He had never even considered the possibility that his father had ever had an affair. Then he realizes that his mother had probably known about this. Hades loved his wife too much to lie to her for long.

He doesn’t talk to Hazel after that. Not for weeks. He walks past her in the kitchen and ignores her attempts to converse with him. He doesn’t comment when Percy comes over and says hi to her, but he doesn’t mention it once they’re alone either.

Until one night, when the anniversary of Bianca’s death comes, he cries for the first time in years, and Hazel finds him in his room. (He’s a mess.) Nico doesn’t tell her to get out, and he doesn’t protest when she gingerly climbs into his bed and puts her arms around him. They stay like that all night, and she doesn’t question what’s wrong.

(He finds that he likes that about her. He likes it a lot.)

* * *

They get closer, after that day. Nico introduces her to Percy formally for the first time as his half-sister, and Nico notices how Hazel looks elated to hear that.

(”Don’t call me that from now on, though, okay?” Hazel tells him one day at school. Nico looks up, confused, and she continues, “Half-sister. Don’t call me that. What is that, anyway? Am I half a sister? Half a girl? I’m your sister. Just sister. Not half-sister.” Nico agrees with a smile.)

Nico looks at the remainders of Bianca’s tattoo one day, feeling nostalgic, and finds a cluster of small, red rubies on top of it. It overlaps part of his constellation, but he realizes that it’s okay. It’s okay.

(He finds a matching mark on the back of Hazel’s neck a few days later, and he feels strangely happy.)

He tries out for another high school in the next town over, the one Percy goes to. There are a number of reasons why he wants to transfer, but he thinks that he mostly wants to get away from what he’s used to, his norm. And it’s just a bonus that Hazel seems determined to follow him there when her time comes.

He meets some other people there. There’s Frank, Leo, and Percy’s girlfriend Annabeth. There’s also Jason and Reyna, and he likes them all. He likes them more than he thinks he would. And it’s a comfort to know that they also like him.

Jason and Percy ask him to go skateboarding one day, and Nico accepts the invitation. But then Percy drops out last minute, having to help his mom pack for her business trip, and it’s the first time Jason and Nico are alone together. They meet at the skating park, and Nico stutters to a stop when he sees Jason’s board, dirty red with white wheels, but he doesn’t let his discomfort show. Because _god_ , he knows that skateboard. He’s looked at it on his palm every day, every time he gripped a pencil, opened a book, or washed his hands.

But he still doesn’t say anything.

He’s not waiting for Jason to notice and initiate the conversation first. Not exactly. But, he still thinks, just a little, that maybe Jason doesn’t _want_ to be his soulmate. They’re standing on the very, very stretched tightrope of friendship right now, and he doesn’t want to break that.

(Unless he has reason to believe that Jason is going to break it first. He had decided a long time ago that he wasn’t going to fall apart because of another person ever again.)

* * *

Exactly one month passes, and it’s nice. It’s nice, and Nico thinks that it must be some kind of miracle, but then he finds himself spending _much_ more time with Reyna than necessary. (That scares him a little.)

He knows Reyna because of Jason. Jason and Reyna were friends for years, since they were little kids. (It’s also common knowledge between their friends that Reyna liked Jason for a while, but Jason’s oblivious and no one ever talks about it, so neither does Nico.)

Nico can’t forget about Jason’s skateboard. He can’t forget about it, just like he can’t forget about the first time he went over to Reyna’s house and she showed him a framed silver dagger on her wall. When he’d stared at it, she had simply just informed him that it used to be her grandfather’s and brushed the topic aside, but Nico can’t forget.

At this rate, he’s almost sure that Reyna knows. Maybe not Jason, but definitely Reyna. Although his skateboard mark was on his palm, his dagger tattoo was much more visible, clear on his right forearm. Reyna must have seen it before. She must have.

And one day, they’re alone, sitting on the school bleachers with some other students, watching Percy and Jason’s basketball game, and there’s a time-out. All the players, home and guest, file out of the gymnasium, and Reyna breathes in, breathes out. Stretches her arms. Cracks her knuckles like she always does. But the air is different.

There is silence in their own little bubble, and everything outside seems unimportant, blurred out. It’s just this, just him and her and a basketball court, and a tattoo that he’s trying to hide, but then Reyna suddenly asks, “Did you like it?”

Nico blinks rapidly, then turns to her, confused. “What?”

“My grandfather’s dagger,” she says. “Did you like it?”

“Yeah,” he whispers.

“Do you want it? My sister wants to get rid of it anyways.”

Nico looks down, smiling softly, then looks back up at Reyna, shaking his head. “No.” There is a pause, and then: “I have one already.”

Reyna stops, and panic suddenly seizes Nico because _gods, he can’t lose her too_ but then she grins and puts an arm around him and he’s never been more grateful.

They don’t talk about it. Not really. The word _soulmate_ or _soulmark_ never comes out of their mouths.

But sometimes. Sometimes. Like when Bianca’s anniversary rolls around once again and Nico skips school and Reyna shows up at his house uninvited and they sit together on the couch. Like when Reyna opens up to him about her father and the truth about his death and Nico comforts her instead of pushing her away. Like when Reyna confesses to Jason and he awkwardly tells her that he was dating Piper and she immediately seeks Nico out. That’s when their fated bond is evident. Not in words, but it’s evident.

Only a few days later, Jason meets Nico at his locker at school and says, “Hey, I think you know this already but – well, I mean –”

And Nico opens up his palm and shows him his skateboard tattoo, and Jason lets out a deep breath with obvious relief and goes, “Okay. Okay. So we’re cool?”

Nico looks at him for another second, then closes his locker shut. “Yeah. We’re cool.”

And it’s as simple as that.

* * *

Suddenly it’s senior year of high school, and Nico’s graduating. He’s been featured in his school’s Premiere Youth Journal, and UCLA’s offered him a full scholarship. He accepts, of course.

(He tries to ignore the sudden stings of his California tattoo.)

He likes writing, he realizes. During his senior year, Nico’s been rediscovering himself. Trying to see the “true” him beyond all his traumas.

(Is there even a true him without Bianca?)

His roommate is nice, too. A guy named Will Solace. Blond hair stroked by sunlight. Deep rivers flowing in his eyes. Tan skin and apple-kissed cheeks. Handsome, Nico thinks silently.

They hang out more than Nico wants to admit. They mostly stay in their dorms, but sometimes they go to that small cafe a quarter mile out of campus, and it’s nice. It’s nice.

Nico doesn’t talk about his tattoos. Ever. Not with Will. It feels somehow personal and _way_ too invasive, so he never asks, never pries, and never brings it up. It works, he thinks. It’s a method, and it’s working. They actually have some kind of friendship, and he doesn’t want to ruin it like he does everything else.

It takes eleven months, give or take. It comes slowly, unlike his unions with Jason and Hazel. Even slower than the one he had with Reyna.

It is now the sophomore year of college, and Nico’s talking about something – he doesn’t remember specifically what it was, he’s rambling because he doesn’t want to stare at Will’s lips or anything else like a creep – and Will just kisses him.

When the blonde pulls away, his face nervous and his breaths unsteady, Nico only smiles softly, heart pounding, but that seems to be enough for Will because relief couldn’t be more evident in his laugh.

Later that night, between a few more sweet kisses and affectionate touches, Will gently pulls down the top of Nico’s v-neck and brushes a thumb over his California tattoo. Nico stifles a sound of surprise when Will exposes a matching mark on his knee.

(He’s so happy, though.

He’s so, so happy.)

* * *

A few months pass and it’s holiday break. Will gently asks Nico if he could spend it with him, and of course Nico agrees – how could he ever say no to Will? – until Will suggests going to Nico’s house.

To New York.

And Nico’s shock and hesitation must be clear on his face, because Will immediately says, “If you don’t want to, that’s totally fine,” with a note of urgency and panic in his voice, but Nico suddenly grasps Will’s wrists and tells him, “It’s okay. We can go.”

He’s still not sure why he agreed.

But when he arrives at his house, everything strikes him at once: the scent of the wooden floors, the pencil marks on the wall that had marked Nico’s height, the old fireplace that his mother had never used because she was afraid of a possible accident.

Yes. This is why he agreed.

And yet another reason: Nico’s father walks down the stairs to the front door, and Nico realizes that he hasn’t contacted him since he left for college, which was about one and a half years ago.

And he misses him.

 _God_ , he misses his dad.

But of course, another jolt pulses through his veins when Hades gives him a small smile and says, “Hello, Nico.”

Oh god. When was the last time Hades spoke to him? Nico blinks back sudden tears and replies, with a surprisingly steady voice, “Hey, Dad.”

* * *

A week later, while Nico packs his suitcase for the flight back to California, he notices a strange, squiggly line circling his index finger. At first, he thinks it’s from a marker or a pen, but then realizes that it’s another tattoo.

He doesn’t think much of it. Actually, he doesn’t think about it at all until he is bringing his bags down to the first floor and sees his dad, who hands him a bagel to eat. And on that hand, there is the exact same mark Nico has, a line looping around the man’s thumb.

But Nico collects himself rather quickly and takes the proffered food, thanking Hades, and feels an unexpected warm sensation spread through his chest.

Suddenly, he hears Will’s voice saying, “Ready to go, love?” behind him, and he turns around and kisses his boyfriend softly.

“Yeah,” Nico says, smiling. “Ready.”

**Author's Note:**

> as always, pls tell me if u enjoyed :) until next time!


End file.
